Hi,
the BerliOS project has now officially launched the OpenFacts project, which
is a Wikipedia-based wiki for open source projects. Press release in wiki
form below. Next time someone wants to put an unedited HOWTO on Wikipedia or
use it to promote an open source project, please point them to the OpenFacts
project.
I have written a brief summary of the differences for Wikipedia users:
http://openfacts.berlios.de/index-en.phtml?title=Tips_for_Wikipedia_users
The English version is still a bit empty, but I'm sure it will grow quickly.
Let me know if you want to see OpenFacts in another language or want to help
with the project.
Regards,
Erik
== BerliOS OpenFacts Project Launched ==
=== A free knowledge database for the collaborative creation of software
documentation ===
'''http://openfacts.berlios.de'''
Open Source Software (OSS) is increasingly used by governments and
companies. The idea of software which is collaboratively developed and can be
distributed for free works in practice, and big IT players are jumping the bandwagon:
Sun (
OpenOffice.org), AOL (Mozilla web browser) and IBM (Linux solution)
support OSS development. But many OSS applications lack complete and accurate
documentation. So-called HOWTOs explain precisely how certain solutions in the
world of Linux, FreeBSD & Co. can be solved; these are often maintained by
single individuals, however, and many of them have not been updated for years.
In January of this year, the Wikipedia project (
http://www.wikipedia.org),
an open content encyclopedia, announced its 100,000th article. How was this
rapid success after only two years possible? Wikipedia uses the wiki principle,
which allows every visitor to immediately edit any article without even
having to create an account. The user community keeps an eye on the edits that
are made and can restore previous revisions of an article if necessary. Should
a user violate the rules repeatedly, he can be banned from the system.
Wikipedia has demonstrated that the wiki idea (from Hawaiian, "wiki wiki")
works to create articles even about controversial subjects. The BerliOS
project now wants to apply this successful model to open source documentation. "It
is a bit daring, but we believe that this approach can be useful. After all,
we are neither dealing with politics nor with religion," BerliOS project
leader Lutz Henckel explains tongue-in-cheek. BerliOS has supported the
development of the open Wikipedia software, which is also used by the OpenFacts
project.
OpenFacts allows all open source projects to maintain their documentation
collaboratively online, but OpenFacts pages can also be used for feature
suggestions or problem reports. "We also want to import existing HOWTOs and
FAQs,"
BerliOS staffer Erik Möller remarks. For this purpose, special import
filters were developed which convert the documents used by the Linux Documentation
Project and the German Linux HOWTO Project into the easy-to-read,
easy-to-edit wiki format. "Fortunately, most HOWTOs allow free modification as per
the
GNU licenses," Möller says. Some German and English HOWTOs have already been
imported. All material written specifically for OpenFacts is released into the
public domain unless otherwise noted.
The new wiki does not see itself as competition to existing projects.
Documents that have been created using OpenFacts could, for example, be certified
by the Linux Documentation Project in regular intervals, which would solve a
major problem of the wiki principle: the lack of authority behind the texts.
Besides OpenFacts, the government sponsored BerliOS project also offers a
hosting platform for open source projects (
http://developer.berlios.de), a news
service for documentation (
http://docswell.berlios.de), a developer database
(
http://devcounter.berlios.de) and an announcement service for open source
software (
http://sourcewell.berlios.de). BerliOS tries to be an OSS
coordination center, and to provide the "missing link" between open source
developers
and companies.
More information:
* OpenFacts project:
http://openfacts.berlios.de
* Berlios homepage:
http://www.berlios.de
Contact:
Lutz Henckel<br>
Telefon: +49/30/3463-7237<br><br>
FAX: +49/30/3463-8000<br>
e-mail: berlios-contact(a)mail.berlios.de<br>
Web:
http://www.berlios.de/<br>
FOKUS<br>
Fraunhofer Institut für Offene Kommunikationssysteme<br>
Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31<br>
10589 Berlin<br>
Germany
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